This weeks headline news

UK

Metropolitan Police have been granted £85,000 to extend the search for Madeleine McCann who disappeared whilst on holiday in 2014, aged 3. The search operation, known as Operation Grange, will be extended for another 6 months. The funding comes after her parents Kate and Gerry McCann, vowed to “never give up” hope of finding their daughter.

Popular Food blogger Jack Monroe has successfully won in her legal case against columnist Katie Hopkins after a row over tweets. Monroe was awarded £24,000 in damages, plus legal costs, in a libel action against Hopkins after she said the writer has caused “serious harm” to her reputation with her comment asking if she had “scrawled on any memorials recently”.

A Muslim detective is suing the Met Police for alleged racism and sexism after facing severe discrimination whilst working for them between 2013 and 2014. Det Con Night Hubbard, who was the first Muslim policewoman to be honoured with an MBE, said she was held back at work whilst white colleagues were allowed to work on more complex investigations.

Former star of the Italian Job, John Forgehaum has passed away aged 75 this Friday. The actor is said to have fallen from his bed at his home in Worthing, West Sussex, on Wednesday and broken his collarbone, causing internal bleeding.

Foreign

Dutch riot police clashed with around 1,000 protesters outside the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam this weekend amid a diplomatic row over expanding Turkish presidential powers. Turkey is currently gearing up for a referendum on the 16 April to decide whether or not it will change from a parliamentary to a presidential republic.

Former Sister Sledge singer, Joni Sledge has passed away aged 60 this weekend. The singer, best-known for the disco anthem We Are Family, was found at her home Phoenix, Arizona, her publicist said. The cause of her death is still unknown. The group were set to reunite this week to perform in Los Angeles.

A one-month-old girl who was abducted in a car-jacking in the South African city of Durban on Friday has been found safe and well. Three people have been arrested, including the baby’s mother, police said.